Thank You to Those Who Risked So Much to Expose COINTELPRO!

It was only thanks to the daring, courage and creativity of eight activist, the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, who broke into the Media, Pennsylvania FBI field offices on March 8, 1971 that the public came to know what the term COINTELPRO means and the lengths to which the state has gone to repress dissent. Only now decades later have the identities of most of the people responsible for the raid been revealed. Keith Forsyth, John C. Raines, Bonnie Raines, Bob Williamson, William C. Davidon, and three others whose identities remain unknown were anti-war Catholic activists motivated by suspicions that the FBI had infiltrated and were disrupting their movement and organizations.

The activist’s goal was to expose this affront to liberty. Their actions were successful and as a result it became more difficult for the government to suppress dissent. In revealing their identities now they hope to spark debate about how police and government agencies are today repressing free speech through a hyper surveillance state.